The Nitty Gritty of a Trip to Aruba and Florida (Mostly Paid with Points)

I helped my parents book a vacation to Aruba and Florida, all on points! Let’s break it down step by step so you can learn exactly the steps I take to book a trip like this!

I am going to dive into exactly how I booked the flights, hotels, and car rentals, and which credit cards we used to make it happen for nearly free. You will soon learn my tips in maximize your credit card points, so you too can travel the world with your family, for less!

Before You Start: Flexibility is Key

First off, it’s important to understand that when booking on points and miles, you need to be flexible with your plans. What do I mean by that? In a perfect world, you get to travel at the holidays, in first class and at a 5 star resort. In a perfect scenario, you can book direct flights from your preferred airport.

The reality is, that ‘perfect’ doesn’t always work when booking with points and miles. I always recommend that you try to be flexible with at least one of the aspects of the trip. Are you flexible on when you go? Are you flexible on where you go? Are you flexible on how you get there? Generally speaking, you can make it work out with the proper planning. Keeping an open mind and flexibility are key in winning in the travel game! It also helps to book in advance to ensure award availability. That doesn’t mean that last minute doesn’t work. Again, keep an open mind, and your options are endless.

Let’s dive into the nitty gritty this specific booking.

For this particular trip, I searched for points availability at the Hyatt Regency Aruba, and looked for the lowest point price, which happened to be in September, 2026. (This hotel was booked in February 2026, prior to the Hyatt points devaluation.) I was able to reserve 5 nights at the resort for 25,000 points a night. My mom opened a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and earned the sign up bonus, which helped to cover this. She also referred my dad, and earned referral bonus points, which we used for the resort stay. She had these Chase Ultimate Reward points available prior to booking the resort.

The cash price for their room type is $656 per night plus taxes and fees.

Bear in mind this particular resort (Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort and Spa) has since gone up in points price in 2026, which is something that typically happens each year.

We were also able to apply a Guest of Honor Award to this resort stay. A Guest of Honor award is earned through the Hyatt membership program, and can be gifted to others. This award gave them free breakfast at the resort each day, free valet parking and eligibility for a room upgrade if available. Unfortunately they were not able to get a room upgrade this time, but really enjoyed the free breakfast, which also helped to cut down on the cost of food for their vacation. Valet parking was included. They were also given a bottle of wine and a beautifully decorated chocolate cake during the stay as a fun surprise!

Now that we got the resort booked, it was time to figure out the flights. My dad had opened a Capital One Venture card, when it had an elevated offer of 75,000 miles plus $250 travel credit. I was able to find a direct flight from their home airport to Aruba, through Qantas, in business class, for around 40k miles per person, plus taxes. They, however, did not actually fly on Qantas, they flew on American Airlines. How does this work? AA is a partner of Qantas. Capital One miles transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Qantas, but not to AA. My dad created a free Qantas frequent flier account, and then was able to transfer points from Capital One to Qantas, and then use those miles to book the one way seats in business class, which is operated by AA. The business class seats gave them access to the airport lounge as well, which is a fun perk!

When you book a flight this way, you will get a confirmation number from Qantas and from AA. You access your flight details within American Airlines, just as you would if you had booked directly with AA.

They decided they wanted to have a rental car while in Aruba, which makes sense, as it is a very drivable island, and worth seeing all the parts of it while there! Remember the Capital One card my dad opened that had a $250 travel credit? Are you thinking what I’m thinking? We logged into Capital one, and booked the car directly in the travel portal, and used the travel credit to book the car for the duration of their stay. Are you starting to see the value in the $95 annual fee?

For the return ticket, we used my dads Chase points and transferred to Jet Blue to book seats in Premium Economy from Aruba to Fort Lauderdale, where their trip continued. Jet Blue seats in premium economy were 20,800 points plus tax. They were able to book a direct flight. We transferred points from Chase to Jet Blue, after creating a frequent flier account, and then booked the seats. Cash price for the extra legroom seats were $592 plus tax per person.

For the next portion of their trip, they wanted to spend 5 nights in Florida while they visited their friends. We booked 5 nights at the Hyatt Place Boca Raton Downtown, for 12,000 points per night. Points were transferred from Chase to reserve this stay for a grand total of 60,000 points and $0.

Points need to be transferred from the card holder’s name and match the name on the Hyatt account. For example, my dad could not move his points directly to my mom’s Hyatt account. Here is what we did instead…he moved his points from his Chase account, to my mom’s Chase account, and from there, she was able to transfer to her Hyatt account to complete the booking. The ability to combine points in a household, is a total game changer.

They booked a direct return flight on Southwest from Florida to home, for 19,500 points per person. My mom had some remaining SW miles, and used the rest of her Chase points to book the flights. They booked the ‘Choice’ option, which allowed them to choose their seats. They paid cash to upgrade to extra leg room which was around $30 per person. Because my mom holds the Southwest credit card, they get free checked luggage. The cash price for this one way ticket was $394 plus tax per person. They paid $36 per person.

The last step in the booking process was to reserve an airport hotel for the night before their big trip. They had an 8am flight, and instead of driving nearly 2 hours to the airport early in the morning, booking a room the night before made the most sense.

Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with a benefit of an annual $100 hotel credit, when booked in the Chase travel portal. We booked the Marriot hotel which was attached to the airport, so all they had to do was walk over to the check in area. They booked this in the Chase portal, and were credited $100 for the stay, and paid cash for the remainder of the cost.

The Cards That Made It All Happen

For this specific trip, they used 3 credit cards. Here’s a quick look at what each one brought to the table:

$95 Annual Fee

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Funded the Hyatt Aruba resort stay via sign-up bonus + referral bonus. Also used for the Florida Hyatt stay and Southwest flights. The $100 hotel credit covered the airport Marriott the night before departure.

75K Miles + $250 Travel Credit

Capital One Venture

Funded the business class flights to Aruba via Qantas transfer (1:1 ratio). The $250 travel credit covered the rental car in Aruba through the Capital One travel portal.

Free Checked Luggage Perk

Southwest Credit Card

Provided existing Southwest miles to help book the return flight from Florida to home. Free checked luggage benefit saved additional out-of-pocket costs at the airport.

Final Thoughts

This was a 12 day vacation, with 2 hotel stays, car rentals, 3 flights, and lots of memories! For this specific trip, they used 3 credit cards; Chase Sapphire Preferred, one each with a referral bonus, and the Capital One Venture card. You better believe they took their next card with them for the trip to pay for food and other spending, which will help them meet their bonus on that new card!

Using points and miles save them thousands on this trip. They were able to fly business class, stay in a top rated resort, and enjoy perks and benefits like lounge access and free breakfast.

If you aren’t earring points and miles on your everyday purchases, you are literally leaving thousands of dollars and memories on the table. It takes some effort and time to make it all happen, but it’s fun and exciting once you get the hang of it.

If you wanted to book a vacation similar to this one, I would start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, and then refer your spouse to the card, to double your points earnings. Start dreaming of your next destination, and maybe add Aruba to your list!